Local Action in Scotland to Tackle Food Insecurity During the Coronavirus Crisis

The objective of this report is to follow-up on the issues raised in the Poverty and Inequality Commission’s briefing of April 2020. This report canvasses the experiences of over 200 organisations working locally to deliver emergency food support in Scotland around mid May 2020. Whereas the original briefing was a Commission investigation of six key organisations; this report is an independent investigation for the Commission that attempts to establish a nation-wide understanding of community provision of emergency food across Scotland. The report reports on changes over the last month, the contemporary situation ("last week") and what is expected to change over the next month. On the whole, the provision of emergency food provision is reported to be working well. The vast majority of frontline providers of emergency food are reporting that they are satisfied with the majority of issues related to that provision. However, specific stress points are highlighted and a sense of emerging concern over what lies ahead is also evident. The report outlines 12 recommendations.